The income tax authorities and the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) have unearthed undisclosed income of
more than Rs 250 crore from a few Delhi-based business houses -- most of which had been allegedly diverted and parked in raising properties in the real estate and hospitality sectors, sources said.
The raids, conducted in the last few weeks, included those on a leading Delhi-based gutka manufacturer at his units in Delhi and Guwahati. These unearthed more than Rs 13 crore in cash besides a disclosure made by the promoters before the income tax officials of Rs 102 crore which they had diverted to real estate.
Soon after the Income Tax raids, DGCEI too raided the units of the gutka manufacturer and unearthed documents that, according to officials, reveal hundreds of crores in excise duty evasion. In another case, DGCEI raided a leading iron and steel manufacturer
where authorities have found duty evasion of more than Rs 25 crore.
A few weeks ago, the income tax authorities had also raided a leading builder in Delhi. In this case, unaccounted wealth to the tune of Rs 100 crore has been disclosed, sources said.
Both the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the Central Board of Excise and Customs, through their investigative arms, have increased surveillance on suspect corporate entities besides conducting search and survey operations against major duty evaders.
The slowdown in the economy has led to a major shortfall in tax collections. While excise and customs duty collections have slipped into negative in the third quarter of this fiscal, as far as direct taxes are concerned, the collections have been way below the target of Rs 3.95 lakh crore.
CBDT chairman NB Singh was quoted by a news agency as saying that there was a gap of about Rs 20,000 crore in the tax collection as on date between the target and the collection.